Issue #726 June 18, 2013
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- Your YouTube Channel Ruined
- Danger: Guest Blog Post Links
- Lots of Help for My Slogan
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
If you visit Milwaukee, don’t miss Maria’s Pizza, one of my all- time favorite dives. Paint-by-number paintings combine with framed religious photos, Elvis clocks shaped like guitars, silk flowers, and red and white checked plastic tablecloths. Flashing lights everywhere make the joint look like the inside of a casino. Best pizza in the city. It resembles a giant amoeba and hangs several inches off the tray. You can see it all in the YouTube video I found.
1. Your YouTube Channel Ruined
If you haven’t visited your YouTube channel in awhile, it’s time to take another look.
YouTube is forcing you to adopt its new channel design. That means that if you spent money on a fancy background design that appeared on the top and sides of the channel, it’s gone.
You’re now limited to “Channel Art,” one long horizontal image, 2120 x 1193 pixels, across the top of the page. If you haven’t converted to it, you’ll see an ugly black and gray box with your small profile picture on the left.
I like the look of the old design a lot better. But the new channel art and other features definitely have advantages:
–The new image, a little tricky to create, is scaled so it looks good on all devices–desktop, mobile, tablet and even large screens. Here’s a video that explains how to create the 2013 YouTube channel art. If you don’t want to do this yourself, you can get an image created for you for $5 at Fiverr.com.
–You can link from within the image to your website (use keywords) and up to four social media profiles.
–You can create a featured video called a “trailer” that welcomes visitors to your channel and tells them what they’ll find.
I’m creating my trailer this week. I’ll also be creating playlists devoted to topics such as press releases, pitching, social media, free PR tools, etc. Don’t miss any of these!
Subscribe to my channel now and see my new channel art. To subscribe, you must have a YouTube account.
2. USA Today Journalist Profiles
Here’s a tip from the new fourth edition of my “How to be a Kick- butt Publicity Hound” ebook.
If you’re dying to get into USA Today, start by checking the profiles of journalists who work for the newspaper’s News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech and Travel sections.
Determine which is right for you, and pitch.
What a shame that the newspaper didn’t include email addresses with the profiles. But they’re easy enough to find.
Google the journalist’s name, the name of the newspaper and the word “email,” like this: “Marisol Bello email USA Today”. I found her email without even clicking on one of the search results.
You can find the USA Today journalist profiles.
Next week, you’ll find details on how to get a discount coupon for the new edition of my ebook.
3. A Quiz Can Sell Your Pitch
When you pitch a journalist, don’t offer everything.
Hold a few things back so you can use them when you follow up.
For example, if you pitch and hear nothing, you might try following up with an email that offers a quiz related to the topic of the story.
It sends the message “I can help you” instead of “I want something from you.”
You can also offer a map, an infographic, a how-to video or other little “extras.” I listed them all on the bonus handout that accompanied last week’s webinar on “The New Rules of Following Up Pitches to Journalists.” I emailed the video replay and all the other materials to everyone who registered. If you missed them, you can buy the entire package.
4. Hound Video of the Week
Did you see the one about the litter of puppies that have a cat for a mom?
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